Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (born 8 March 1984), more commonly known as Ross Taylor, is a New Zealandcricketer and former national captain.[1] He previously captained the New Zealand Under-19 side in youth internationals. Taylor has a highest List A score of 132* in the State Shield domestic one-day competition in 2003–04, and a first class best of 217 in the State Championship in 2007–08. He currently plays with IPL team Delhi Daredevils.

Taylor is of part-Samoan descent, his mother being from Samoa and his father from New Zealand. Taylor was a hockey player before shifting his focus to cricket. Taylor and New Zealand women's cricketer Victoria Jayne Brown were married on 25 June 2011. They have a daughter named Mackenzie, who was born on 24 September 2011 and a son named Jonty who was born on 16 February 2014.

He made his debut for the New Zealand team in international cricket on 1 March 2006, in a one-day match against the West Indies. He became the second male player of Samoan heritage to play for New Zealand after Murphy Su'a.[3] Taylor's full name is Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor; however, some sources have inaccurately recorded his name as Ross Luteru Taylor. This is because Taylor grew up answering to both Luteru and Ross when playing cricket, and did not realise he needed to write down his full name for the official New Zealand Cricket records when he was asked to fill in a questionnaire at a first-class match early in his career.

Taylor captained New Zealand for the first time in an ODI against Australia in Napier on 3 March 2010, when Daniel Vettori dropped out of the side less than 30 minutes before the start with a neck ache. Taylor top-scored with 70 and New Zealand won by two wickets with four balls to spare. Taylor was also awarded the Man of the Match and donated the $NZ 500 prize to the Lansdowne Cricket Club in Masterton.

Taylor has been a dominant batsman on the domestic scene for the past couple of seasons. He is a clean striker of the ball, and a useful off-breakbowler. Taylor scored his maiden one day century in front of a delighted crowd in Napier, playing against Sri Lanka on 28 December 2006. Unluckily for him, New Zealand were comprehensively beaten in that game, his innings aside. He also suffered dehydration and required a short hospital trip during the second innings. Taylor hit 84 against Australia in their opening game in the 2007 Commonwealth Bank series. He has also established one of the most potent no.3-no.4 top order partnership with Kane Williamson since the latter made his debut.[4] However, they were also involved in 12 run outs across all forms of international cricket as of 26 January, 2015 when they are both on the crease.[5]

Taylor has also played English cricket for Norwich and Coltishall Wanderers in Norfolk. He was their key player and he was consistent in scoring runs.

Taylor's first ODI century came against Sri Lanka on 28 December 2006, scoring 128* off 133 balls. The innings included 12 fours and 6 sixes. Taylor scored his second century in his ODI career on 18 February 2007 against Australia. He scored 117, the 2nd highest score by a New Zealander against Australia.

He made his highest ODI score of 131* which came off 124 balls against Pakistan on 8 March 2011 at the ICC Cricket World Cup. His innings included seven (7) 6's and eight (8) 4's and contributed to New Zealand making 127 runs in the final 9 overs of the game for their highest total ever against Pakistan (302) in ODI cricket. It is from this match that Taylor earned his nickname 'The Pallekele Plunderer' after he blasted a staggering 55 runs from the last 13 deliveries he faced.[8] With this century, Taylor became only the fourth batsman in history of the game that scored an ODI century in a birthday, after Vinod Kambli, Sachin Tendulkar, and Sanath Jayasuriya.[9]

He scored his maiden Test century, a patient and restrained 120, in March 2008 at Hamilton in the first Test of the 2007–08 series against England and went on to be the leading run scorer for the series.

Aside from national duties for the New Zealand team, Taylor also plays for Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and for his domestic team, the Central Districts Stags. Taylor scored a match winning innings of 81 from just 33 balls for Bangalore against Kolkata to seal an improbable victory for his team in 2009.

Known for his explosive style, combining flair and aggression with proper, elegant strokes, Taylor has been a match-winner in many of the RCB's wins. He has one of the highest strike-rates as an RCB batsman and known to be a 'finisher'. After RCB's win over Delhi Daredevils at Airtel Champions League Twenty20 2009, captain Anil Kumble said that Taylor was a "murderer" of spinners, referring to his explosive innings of 65. In 38 balls, Taylor had scored six 4s and four 6s, and was declared Man of the Match.[10]

Ross Taylor scored what was then a Test match career-best of 154* against England at Old Trafford in May 2008, a brilliant innings including 5 sixes and 17 fours.

His third Test century, an aggressive and chancy innings of 151 runs off 204 balls, came against India at Napier in March 2009. His fourth Test century, in the next Test, was a serene 107 which delayed India's victory long enough to force a draw.

In a match against Australia at Hamilton in March 2010, Taylor made the fastest Test century ever by a New Zealander, bringing up his hundred off only 81 balls [11]

Taylor scored centuries in all three tests in the 2013/14 series against the West Indies. In the first Test, Taylor made his first Test match double-century and highest test score of 217* in a composed and classy innings.[12]

Taylor's 12th ODI century against Pakistan at Napier coincides with the 100th century for the Black Caps. Kane Williamson also scored his century before, making his the 99th century for the team.[13]